The invention relates to an anti-theft device for a motor vehicle of the kind having a floor-mounted gear-shift lever and a handbrake lever generally in line with one another.
Most modern cars are provided with a steering lock which is destined to prevent unauthorized operation of the motor vehicle. It is opened by turning the ignition key, but it is has proved an insufficient protection against theft, since a thief can easily break the tongue of the steering lock by vehement turning of the steering wheel, which allows him driving the vehicle away, after having started the ignition cycle.
An improved anti-theft device comprises means for locking the gear lever in a fixed position to the car body, thereby preventing gear-shifting, but not preventing the thief from releasing the hand brake and towing the car away on the two non-driven wheels. In order to prevent this kind of car theft devices have been disclosed which will lock both the gearshift lever and the handbrake lever in a fixed position, and such devices have been disclosed, among others, in the following three patents:
A device according to British Patent No. 2,145,679 comprises a tube which fits over the handbrake lever and a bar angularly welded to the closed end of the tube. The bar is perforated by a number of holes permitting a padlock to be threaded through one or two of these holes, while encircling the gearshift lever and thus preventing movement of both levers.
A similar anti-theft device is disclosed in the South-African Patent No. 861816. It is in the shape of a tube open at its one end and flattened at its other end, the flattened end being perforated by a number of holes serving for the attachment of a U-shaped bracket and a padlock. For securing the car, the open end of the tube is fitted over the handbrake lever, and the other end locked to the gearshift lever, thus immobilizing both levers, as in the aforementioned British Patent.
The German Patent Publication No. 3238005 describes a device consisting of a vertical box which has an open bottom and can be slipped over the gearshift lever, and of a second box obliquely extending from the side wall of the vertical box serving to receive the handbrake lever. A lock is provided in the vertical box which engages the knob of the gearshift lever and thus prevents removal of the device from enegagement with the two levers.
All the aforementioned locking devices are cumbersome and do not give the desired protection, since they can be opened by a skilled mechanic without damage to the motor vehicle parts.
Another drawback of the aforementioned devices is that both levers, or at least one lever, have to be placed at a certain angle, so as to allow the locking device to be fitted over both levers. This means that either the gearshift lever cannot be placed in the parking position or the handbrake lever cannot be fully drawn back.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a simple device which can be easily fitted and readily locked, and can be likewise opened and removed.
It is another object to permit the device to be fitted over both the gearshift and the handbrake lever, when these are in their respective parking and braking position without the need of adjusting their position to the size and shape of the locking device.
It is a still another object of the invention to provide a safety device which is hard to open and to remove by a potential thief and will, therefore, deter him from trying to steal the car.
And it is a final object to provide such device at low cost in order to enable each car owner to install it.